Moms in denial over child’s weight fuel obesity crisis

London, Oct. 18 : Experts have warned that mothers in denial over their child’s weight problems can cause obesity crisis.

According to researchers in Ireland, mothers are more willing to recognise their own obesity than to see it in their offspring, The Daily Mail reports.

In the study, researchers analysed data of almost 8,000 mothers and their nine-year-old children and found that the mothers were mostly honest and accurate about their own weight.

They found mothers were mostly honest and accurate about their own weight. However, 17 percent of the mothers of obese children realised that their children were moderately or very overweight.

Researcher Kieran Dowd of the University of Limerick said that if mothers do not currently perceive their child’s weight as problematic, they were less likely to seek or implement any intervention to address this.

Dowd said that it was likely then that the child would continue to gain weight throughout childhood, adolescence and into adulthood.

The research team concluded that parents should make sure to measure their children’s weight at family doctor and hospital visits. (ANI)